Meek, Carrie P. (Carrie Pittman), 1926-2021

Carrie Pittman Meek (April 29, 1926 - November 28, 2021) was a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Florida. She served in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2003, representing Florida's 17th congressional district.

Meek was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida. She graduated from Lincoln High School. She remained in north Florida for college and graduated from Florida A&M University (then known as Florida A&M College for Negroes) in 1946. At this time, African Americans could not attend graduate school in Florida, so Meek enrolled in the University of Michigan and received her M.S. degree in 1948. After graduation, Meek was hired as a teacher at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, and then at her alma mater, Florida A&M University. Meek moved to Miami in 1961 to serve as special assistant to the vice president of Miami-Dade Community College. The college was desegregated in 1963, largely due to Meek's integral role in the push for its integration. Throughout her years as an educator, Meek was also active in community projects in the Miami area.

When state representative Gwen Cherry, Florida's first woman African American legislator, died in a car crash in 1979, Meek decided to run in the special election to succeed her. She was elected to the Florida House as a Democrat. In 1982, Meek ran for a newly drawn state senate seat based in northern Dade County and became the first African American woman elected to the Florida Senate.

In 1992, a court-ordered congressional redistricting plan drew three districts with a substantial African American population, designed to elect black candidates of choice to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act. Meek ran for one of those seats, the 17th district, which was based in northern Dade County. Along with Corrine Brown and Alcee Hastings, Meek became the first black member of Congress from Florida since Reconstruction.

Meek easily won all four of her re-elections. In 2002 Meek declined to seek certain re-election to a sixth term, citing her age. Following her congressional career, Meek shifted her focus to the Carrie Meek Foundation, which worked to provide the Miami-Dade community with jobs and opportunities. She ran the foundation's operations until 2015 when "declining health" forced her step down. Meek died in her Miami home at the age of 95.